Happy News

One of the gifts I got for Christmas was a financial planning guide by Clark Howard. It's got lots of great advice on investing and how to go about making large purchases. The first part I read was about buying a home. Clark suggests that you prequalify for a mortgage before you start shopping so you know what you can afford. Before you do that, you need to make sure you don't have anything on your credit report to dispute. He gives a few websites where you can get a cheap credit report, so I did that. Credit scores are based on a scale of 350-850. Clark says if you have a score of 750 or higher, you will probably never be declined for a loan, and you'll get the best interest rates. But he also says most college students are in the 5 and 600s at best. Bugger. So I logged on eloan.com this morning and signed up for my credit report. I was really nervous, because I know if I don't have a high enough score, I'll depend on my parents to cosign, and they are kind of slow about things. So I was praying for the upper 600s. I know I have good credit, but I haven't had credit that long, and I have made a few applications for new cards recently, so I didn't know what that would do to it. Well, after 30 minutes of filling out vital information and verifying my social security number over and over again, I got my score. 750. Hot damn, I'm a financial rock star. I'm thrilled:) So I can basically buy any house I want and my parents have little say. Yay:) (Of course, I will respect my folks' input...I just won't make my decisions based on it)

So that's my good news. The other good news is, my raise kicks in on the next paycheck, so I can expect about another $75-100 each paycheck. As financially solid as I'm feeling now, the extra money is still quite a blessing. Also I've been on a donating to charity kick lately, so I'll be getting a bigger tax rebate come April. Joy joy joy. Today is a good day.

Tomorrow is a good day, too, because I get to go to Jer's family Christmas dinner and meet all of his mom's side. So far on her side, I've met his grandparents and great-grandma, and I love them. For Christmas, his mom put together a photo album for me of pictures of Jer and family from birth up to age 22, when I met him. I love it! It's my favorite so far. Anyhow, must get going. Things to do, things to do...
Peace.